Law - Children's Rights & Family Law - LLM

Course Outline

On the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law), you will be exposed to the law and theory on child and family law in Ireland and internationally. At the same time you will get a rare insight into various aspects of the law in action by engaging with social workers, legal professionals and others.



You will work with scholars who have a track record of outstanding scholarship on legal issues relating to children and the family.



You will have the unique opportunity to engage with one or both of our specialised and innovative Law Clinics. As a student on the Child Law Clinic, you will provide research assistance to lawyers on real cases, helping to contribute to the quality of advocacy on children’s issues, and lobbying for the reform of child law and children’s rights. In the Family Law Clinic, you will support and maintain the Clinic’s online Family Law information hub, provide research assistance to lawyers in relation to litigated familial disputes, and will contribute an original blog on a topical issue of family law, to be published on the clinic’s information website.



Applicants for the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Degree also have the option of registering for a Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Children's Rights and Family Law). Students take 60 credits of taught masters’ modules from those on offer for the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law). The Postgraduate Diploma can be completed over 9 months full-time or 18 months part-time.



This shorter programme may be attractive to legal professionals and others who may prefer not to make an initial commitment to a full master’s programme. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma may further progress their studies by completing a 15,000-word research dissertation and graduating with a Masters in Law (LLM).

Modules

Full-time: Students take 90 credits.

Part-time: Students take 90 credits over two years. In Year 2, students take LW6569 and any core modules not already taken in Year 1.



Core Modules

You will take 60 credits – 50 credits of core modules and 10 credits of elective modules.

LW6652 Legal Research Methods in Writing (5 credits)

LW6659 LLM Dissertation (25 credits)



Taught Modules

LW6507 Comparative Family Property Law (5 credits)

LW6563 Child Law in Practice (10 credits)

LW6568 The Family and the Law (10 credits)

LW6653 Family Law Clinic or LW6654 Child Law Clinic (10 credits)

LW6655 Contemporary Issues in Children's Rights (5 credits)

LW6656 Foundations of International Children's Rights Law (5 credits)

LW6658 Juvenile Justice (5 credits)



Elective Modules

LW6592 Mental Capacity Law (5 credits)

LW6609 Mental Health Law (5 credits)

LW6619 Alternative Dispute Resolution: Processes and Practice (5 credits)

LW6634 Refugee and Forced Displacement Law (10 credits)

LW6614 Family Law Clinic (5 credits)

LW6615 Child Law Clinic (5 credits)*



*The Clinic module chosen as a core module may not be chosen again.



It may be that not all modules listed above will be offered in any particular session and/or other options may become available.



Note: In certain cases, with the permission of the Programme Director, students may elect to take 5 credits from the list available for the LLM Degree (other than those listed above) in substitution for 5 credits of the elective modules listed above.



In order to ensure a reasonable distribution of workload, when choosing modules for all programmes, students should take a balance of credits between Semester 1 and Semester 2. Students who wish to deviate from this rule must seek permission from their Programme Director.

To be accepted on this course, you must be approved by the School of Law.



You will also normally have:

(a) A Second Class Honours Grade I in a primary honours Law degree (NFQ, Level 8) Or

(b) Have such other relevant third-level educational qualifications and/or professional experience as, in the opinion of the School of Law, qualifies the candidate under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to undertake the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Degree.



If you are an overseas candidate, you are welcome to apply and your qualifications will be considered on a case-by-case basis as above.



For Applicants with Qualifications Completed Outside of Ireland

Applicants must meet the required entry academic grade, equivalent to Irish requirements. For more information see our Qualification Comparison page.



International/Non-EU Applicants

For full details of the non-EU application procedure visit our how to apply pages for international students.

• In UCC, we use the term programme and course interchangeably to describe what a person has registered to study in UCC and its constituent colleges, schools, and departments.

• Note that not all courses are open to international/non-EU applicants, please check the fact file above. For more information contact the International Office.



English Language Requirements

Applicants who are non-native speakers of the English language must meet the university-approved English language requirements.

Closing Date

Rolling deadline. Open until all places have been filled. Early application is advised.



Non-EU Closing Date

Open until all places have been filled or no later than 15 June. Early application is advised.

You will be examined by continuous assessment throughout the year and your dissertation must be submitted in September. To view individual module assessments in the Book of Modules

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time.



The part-time option will be taught during weekday working hours over 2 years.

Start Date: 8 September 2025

Skills and Careers Information

As the only qualification of its kind in Ireland, graduates are uniquely qualified in the areas of child law and family law. As well as allowing legal professionals to specialise in these areas of legal practice, graduates of this degree are well equipped to work anywhere in the children’s sector – with government departments and agencies (in education, child protection, youth justice etc.), with non-governmental organisations (both nationally and internationally), or other bodies who work with children. Few statutory or children’s organisations have staff with legal expertise in the child and family law area and this is a significant gap in the sector.